[At-Large] Fwd: [CIVIC] Greater use of ICTs in education encouraged (Barbados)

[Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro]

Dear All,

For those of you who are in San Jose, it has been great to meet you all. I
would like to share some things we can learn from Barbados, see below:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Yacine Khelladi <yacine at yacine.net>
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 9:51 AM
Subject: [CIVIC] Greater use of ICTs in education encouraged (Barbados)
To: "Caribbean ICT stakeholders Virtual Community (CIVIC)" <
civic at dgroups.org>




Greater use of ICTs in education encouraged
http://www.barbadosadvocate.**com/newsitem.asp?more=local&**NewsID=23453<http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=23453>

3/16/2012

Transforming education through technology will require emphasis on learning
how to create, how to collaborate and how to communicate in education
without neglecting the content.

That is according to one of the directors of Caribbean Online Academy, Dr.
Lora Woodwall, who delivered the featured address at the Ministry of
Education’s Barbados Technology in Education conference which opened
yesterday morning at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

“Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can help to transform
education by helping us to create, collaborate and communicate differently
and more effectively. However, in order to do this, we need to recognise
that a clear vision needs to be communicated, a strategic plan developed
and explicated and most importantly, people need to be at the forefront of
that change,” said Dr. Woodwall.

She stated that educational leaders, educators and students all have a
critical role to play in the transformation of education and technology.

“The question is not whether technology can transform education, but rather
are we willing to make the changes that are necessary? Changes in the way
we manage education, changes in the way that we teach, changes in the way
that our students learn...”

Dr. Woodwall noted that for change to occur in the Caribbean, “We need to
inform the powers that be, that it is not our regard, if this is the case,
to have a system that is so examination driven but that takes a whole
society to say we want a different way of education. That is a huge
cultural change and that is going to take awhile to happen but it can
happen.”

She said that the other way this is possible is to use technology to
achieve the same aim.

“Barbados is highly regarded in the Caribbean and the wider world for its
education system even though that has been largely content driven, that
does not mean that you should throw out that whole way of looking at things
and adopt a completely new way. I think there is room for combination, so
that we can make sure that our students still know the critical content but
that we have the critical thinking and research skills that they need,”
said Dr. Woodwall.

According to her, teachers will also need to work on locating and adapting
material to tailor the resources to the needs of Caribbean students.

She added that students need to be taught how to effectively search for
information online and how to evaluate the resources that they find.

Dr. Woodwall stressed that educators are key to the integration of ICTs in
the education system and any changes must have their involvement and
support.

This, she said, would require teachers to have the necessary knowledge and
skills and understand the role of technology in teaching and learning.

The conference runs for three days and is free to the public. It includes
an exhibition displaying various institutions that work with technology,
which many primary school students enjoyed viewing yesterday morning. (AR)



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-- 
Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala

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